This application is a 371 National Phase of PCT/US2013/049993 filed Jul. 11, 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/670,467 filed Jul. 11, 2012, both of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.
A riser extends from a vessel down to the sea floor. A downhole tool, such as a subsea test tree, may be disposed within the riser proximate the sea floor. An umbilical cable or line is oftentimes used to transfer communication signals between the vessel and the downhole tool. The umbilical line is disposed within the riser and coupled to the downhole tool.
The umbilical lines may be hundreds of meters long and have a diameter from about 5 cm to about 15 cm. As such, the umbilical lines may take up a large amount of space on the deck of the vessel. Further, the umbilical lines are coupled to a tubing string and the downhole tool within the riser at predetermined locations, and this coupling process may take a significant amount of time. What is needed, therefore, is an improved system and method for communicating between a surface location and a downhole tool.